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Author
Topic: Val St Lambert - Just for show... (Read 2667 times)

I just wanted to show and share a series of VSL that very often gets overlooked or misattributed, for obvious reasons. More then often these pieces from the 20's and 30's series 'Améthyste' are not signed and can only be identified with documentation, ie catalogues or reports. As so little info can be found about it, it's often difficult to spot the right item, but the technique used for these series is also a bit of a giveaway to identify these items.

I don't know if the term 'clear cased' is of use here, as it is unknown to me at the moment, how the colour was applied, but all pieces have a thin layer of Amethyst/plum/aubergine crystal on the inside of each item and the colour is not throughout the crystal. On some of the images it's quite clear to see, as well as the amethyst colour by daylight.

Why do I like this series so much? Besides the fact that it is something you wouldn't expect to be VSL as it isn't the regular 'cut to clear crystal', I like the clean lines, purity of the crystal, the large facets ...basically the whole concept and design, which I think is really stylish.

A negative point is that it's a pain in the neck to take a picture of, as it always shows up brown on an image and because it's so dark in colour, every bit of dust is visible and you don't stop cleaning it. and due to the concept of clean lines and large facets, every little nick is immediately visible, but I'm glad to say that none of these items are damaged in anyway, whatsoever

All of these items can be found back in the Cristaux de Fantaisie catalogue from 1926, and the catalogues from 1933 and 1936 as in 1937 these series were taken out of production. Some 50 years later the series Amethyst was reintroduced as a limited edition cut to clear crystal but the colour was more lavender like and not as dark.

I would think that if somebody ever found any of this range, unmarked, they might have suspected Moser,but the way the colour is used, with the thin internal layer of colour, is not compatible with Moser, is it?I'm so pleased you're here, Anne. We are very lucky to have all your wonderful contributions.

Logged

Cheers, Sue (M)"The really smart people know enough to know that there's too much that they don't know for them to be arrogant about the little they do know." Prof. Ron Davis OMF

Yes, it get's often mistaken for Moser, especially the vase 'Nungesser' in my 2nd post, the last two images. Underneath here, there's an image from the 1933 catalogue.

I believe Moser have a similar, but smaller model, more 'smokey' in colour but throughout the glass, and especially on the second picture, you can see the difference with the clear crystal layer on the outside.